Internet Explorer vs Firefox: Which to Choose

The Possible Fall of a Browser Giant

There is a great debate currently surrounding the use of browsers. For decades now, Internet Explorer has been the leader for internet browsers. There are many such browsers out there for the computer aficionado’s perusal however, it seems Internet Explorer may finally have some real competition. There are many such browsers that have come and gone and many have their staunch supporters. Netscape and Opera are two of the popular ones used by computer users. However Mozilla’s Firefox has broken out of the pack and is gaining momentum in the marketplace.

Internet Explorer started losing their grasp on the browsing home front after several widely publicized security problems with Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Internet Explorer is imbedded into the Window’s system, which is what cast a shadow over what was once a comfortable and stress free browsing experience. With the release of Windows XP the security problems loomed it’s ugly head. After Microsoft issued a patch for it’s XP problem users thought was all well and good until it was found that an update to Internet Explorer has not been performed since 2001.

Mozilla's director of engineering, Chris Hofmann states that they have been getting downloads averaging “200,000 and 300,000 downloads a day”. This is up from 70,000 downloads over a year ago. There are several factors that are putting Firefox into the lead among browsers. It has a fast download speed and an advanced user interface. The pop-up blocker incorporated into Firefox is also one of the best available. It also offers tabbed browsing, which allows users the ability to jump back and forth between various sites with only one window open.

So far one of the minor drawbacks to using Firefox is that most web sites are built to with Microsoft's Internet Explorer in mind because it has until now, been the most commonly used browser and is what is available on most Personal Computers. This means some may not be accessible at all on non Internet Explorer Browsers.